It's cold and raining here and the warm clothes are out. However, before arriving in the central highland town of Dalat, I passed through a small beach town called Mui Ne, so some photos are from there.

The Vietnamese language is proving to be quite difficult. For example, depending what tone you use, the word ma can mean ghost, tomb, mother, but/which, horse, or rice seedling. How all that's possible I'll never know. My problems are much more basic. While on a tour of the country side, I said a friendly "xin chao" (hello) to the waitress when I entered the restaurant for lunch with my local guide, Hai. He was quick to inform me, however, that I said it completely wrong. "You just begged for noodle", he said. How can anyone learn this language? The amusing thing is that I think I've been begging for noodles all over southern Vietnam for quite some time now.

After a quick look around the countryside, which included a tour of a coffee plantation, a silk factory, a pagoda, and an embroidery workshop, I've determined there is absolutely nothing else to do here. It's cold and wet and I'm going back to the beach!